quote:Math, though, is a constant muscle that must be used.
Really, DF2506, both math and English are muscles that must constantly be used. You've just strengthened your English muscle more than your math muscle. When you say "Well, if you know how to read and write, you can understand English," it's not that far off with math, or any other subject, really. If you have the basic tools, you can understand the subject.
I tutored math and science in high school, and then in college I tutored for Upward Bound. I came to two basic conclusions about math: 1.) Anyone can learn math, and 2.) Most people who have trouble with math are more bogged down by the frustration than with technical challenges.
The majority of the students I worked with, say 80 to 90%, who had trouble with math had the view that math was something they were incapable of learning. That, in itself, was the biggest stumbling point. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of them had bad teachers, many of whom also didn't think that their students could learn math. It's pretty amazing the effect that a little encouragement and faith in their abilities had. I never had a single student that was, in the end, incapable of learning math.
Having said all that, schedule permitting, I'd be more than willing to give you what help I can.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Belle, math made sense for the first time when i took my math methods course.
As for math teachers not understanding those who don;t understand math: I had teachers like that in high school, but I also had some p[atient teachers who DID understand. I really needed a math psychologist, because I think I truly had math phobia. I was so tense about it, nothing got in.
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quote: I'm frightened that I have to take Math for Elementary Teachers. Really. I'm scared.
Belle, too bad you don't live out here -- my mom teaches both semesters (well, not at the same time) of the CSUN equivalent of that course. She spends at least an hour every night on the computer (which cuts into my Hatrack time, but everyone must sacrifice for the greater good ) answering student emails -- in addition to her regular office hours.
Like Ic, I am quite willing to help people who need help with math, time allowing. My only caveat is that while I consider myself to be a very good math tutor in person, the translation suffers a LOT online. No ability to sketch stuff, to start.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I do, however, have several Looks that I give; among them The Look. (I also do skeptical, pleased, enthusiastic, encouraging, disbelieving, and several others. Combinations available by special order.)
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
*stretches from hibernation* Ahhh, it's been over a year and a half since I last posted. Miss anything?
My opinion on math is that, well I love it, worship it, but there is still something that really gives me the heebejeebes to think about.
Fi, I believe it is... Not Pi, Fi. I think it's sometimes called the golden ratio. It's everywhere, from yourself, to nature, to even the stock market.
But in algebra, yeah I'm good with algebra. I like it.
Posts: 1831 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Well, excuse me for being a johnny-come-lately, but I have figured out at least one way that I could solve it way faster than with a calculator. I didn't use algebra, I just recognized a pattern, but if you are having trouble, the algebra may help. If algebra terrifies you, you can see the answer in the sums.
I tend to consider myself intuitively good at math. It's just something that my mind works its way around well. Given that, you'd figure I would have excelled in math in school. Well, you'd be dead wrong.
Early on, I was fairly indifferent to math, prefering science and reading. My parents had a massive library of National Geographics, and a perpetual subscription; I was introduced to them at a very young age, and was immediately enthralled. I have read them, later on along with Scientific American, on a regular basis since I was 4. I was born in december of '83, and I remeber reading about the Exxon Valdez spill, something which still chills me today. which would have been '88, if I'm not mistaken. Before Kindergarden, I could read a Nat Geo issue cover to cover. The topics in those pages were my subjects of choice, and boring things like addition and multiplication were boring. I never developed much interest until grade 5, when I was also labeled a 'gifted' child, thus categorizing me as a special needs child. Thanks to the backwards education system, this meant I spent alot of time in a classroom with other people with learning disabilies. The good in this was the special attention I got. They quickly realised that I was doing poorly in math because I wasn't being challenged at all. I was moved up to grade 6 math, and finished it in a few months.
The summer before grade 6, I moved and changed schools. Since bureaucrats need work, I had to retake the test to be designated gifted, and was reinitiated into the program. It was decided that I would do grade 6 math over again. You see, my grade 6 teacher had developed his own unique math program which he was very proud of. You could work at your own pace, and tests were not involved. Only endless excercises from the book. Once you finished grade 6 math, you could move on to grade 7, and even grade 8, which two of my gifted classmates did. I abhorred all the pointless repetive work his system entailed, and seeing as I had already done that years math, never completed grade 6 math. That same year, I outscored everyone in the city in a provincial math competition.
The next year, I was moved into grade 7 math anyways, as were the two students who had worked their way well into grade 8 math, much to their annoyance. Once again, the school made us do another test, this one was strictly math, to see where we stood. The questions progressed in difficulty from the mindlessly basic until they dealt with algebra, radicals and polynomials, much of which I could answer. I outscored everyone in the school on the test, and was given the option of doing math 8 concurrent with 7 along with 4 other students, all girls. At the end, we would take the final exam at the high school with the grade 8s. I accepted, and the next months were from hell. The teacher insisted on making us do the whole textbook. That meant every question. It was a terrible ammount of work, and I suffered through it, although sometimes, my work would not always be done in time, and often, I would not do my grade 7 math work, and my mark in that class slipped to a B. By the time the last month had come, the program was down to me and two people, the girls who had worked their way into grade 8 math a year previous. The program's teacher felt that I wasn't putting in the sufficent effort, despite my scores of 80 or above on all of the tests, and forced me to quit the program. I would have to do math 8 over again.
The next year, my teacher noticed that I was exceptionally good at math 8, and told me that I didn't have to do it, and instead gave me math 9, which I finished in time to get started on math 10. At the end of the year, I was informed that I would not be given credit for what I did, and was placed in math 9 for next year.
That next year, a new program was introduced whereby good math students were given the option of taking a condensed math 8/9 and 9/10 course where three years were squeezed into two.
That year, I lost all interest in math, and coasted on Bs, never reciving another A in math until college, when a good teacher and challenging material finally made me enjoy the subject again.
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posted
The ratio of two adjacent numbers in the Fibonacci sequence approach the golden ration as the series goes up.
There was an article in Discover about why Fibonacci numbers show up so often in nature. Something to do with how the ratios result in fewer overlapping leaves, for instance.
posted
Ooooh, I wanna see both those proofs of e^(pi*i)=-1.
I like Euclid's proof of the infinitude of the primes.
Can anyone remember how to prove that the square root of two isn't a rational number? Pythagoras did that one, I think.
Another one that's neat is the Cantor's diagonal proof that the number of points on a line is a bigger infinity (can't be put into one to one correspondence with) than the infinity of, say, the positive integers. That one is awesome.
What are some other cool proofs of stuff? I love knowing proofs.
Math is so awesome. The universe is actually composed of math. Matter is knots in the fields and fields are numbers in space. Laws of physics aren't based on anything mechanical or nuts-and-bolts about existence. As near as we can tell at this time, the laws of physics are just equations. Existence is equations. Math is all there is. To do math is to know the mind of God.
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) answering student emails -- in addition to her regular office hours.![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
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